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30 June 2014

If like me you find the history of Filofax and its products fascinating when you look back over the years, then I think you will enjoy a series of posts coming up over the next few weeks/months.

Filofax UK have very kindly loaned me their collection of old catalogues from their archive. It is not a very large or complete collection, but all the same I'm very grateful for the loan of these catalogues.

It is not until you sit down and look through just one or two of them that you start to discover lots of information about older models etc. There's almost too much information!

So what I'm going to be doing every time a get a couple of hours to spare is to scan in each of the catalogues. I will be posting the scans as posts on Philofaxy. I will also be making the photos available on Flickr.

Now another project which is underway and I'm sure will be using this data is FiloWiki which is a Wikipedia site about Filofax organisers. Robert Mayr and I both started similar projects at more or less the same time without realising it! So we are combining our efforts to bring together as much information as we can about older models and any information we can find really.

So jump in to the DeLorean DMC-12 and let's go 'Back to the Future' of 1989.... enjoy the ride!

The scans are also available in slightly higher resolution in this Flickr album.

29 June 2014

My name is Toni Parker, I live in Australia. I must admit I am the other
extreme, I do not have organised issues. I have few health issues so memory
is coming an issue, this is what lead me to planners, plus the love of
leather from the tack shed, leather reminds me of the fun. So it one
plus I can change it to suit me. As I become more reliant on aides the Filofax is already helping me keep track things need to be done or it
will be gone as I get lost in the midst of a sentence, Filofax she keeps
on remembering. :)

1. When did you buy your first organiser and what was it?

January 2014, I started with a Finsbury A4. She was way big but loved colour. Had no ideas of sizes

2. What other brands have you used or considered using?

I have had Dayrunner Malibu in red do like it feel but it a desk one only.

Filofax Domino but hate it as won't lay flat, I have tried Pocket Finsbury, pocket Malden, filofax malden personal is due to arrive. Love my Midori and Van der Spek but purple Malden I do love but not using her.

3. Out of the organisers you own which is your current favourite (Style and Size)?

I love my custom Van der Spek, in personal size and sadly I must admit that my Van der Spek gold croco, has been my used for everything. I love her so much. I do have an option of getting her twin for it in white ostrich. As the personal size has became my purse, brain, my everything in there. Makes me feel bit like a filofax traitor, but she just gives me a lot of pleasure to use. The high tactileness of her I enjoy.

4. How many Filofax or other brands of organisers do you own?

Filofax, Midori, Van der Spek, Day-runner, iPads

5. What is the oldest organiser in your collection?

Filofax Malden purple

6. What do you use your organisers for?

My wallet and brain personal Van der Spek croco

A5 Van der Spek she is my Filofax for my stories, and quotes

My purple Filofax will hold all my medical condition for specialist to take some bulk out my croco when she arrives

My Midori been using it be creative and enjoy that

7. What was the feature about Filofax you like most?

That you can change pages and section. The only thing stopping you is your own creativity

8. If you could design your own Filofax what would it feature?

That why I went Van der Spek: the choice of colour, larger rings, gold rings, but I would love a personal with a large back pocket like a wallet, if there is one I have not seen it but think it is a great idea.

9. How do you carry your Filofax?

In my hand like a clutch purse but am trying to find a bag, but thinking making a handbag just big enough for it, and my phone and that is it.

10. Which Filofax in the current range do you like the most? Are you going to buy it?

Malden but do have a weakness to the Temperley London. The $800 way out this girls league.

11. What is the most you have ever spent on a Filofax or other brand of organiser? Which model?

$300 purple personal Malden as I knew the lady I bought it from was also on my Facebook groups was selling to raise to get an operations

Oh and I paid $200 for Filofax purple mini then found they were on special brand new at Filofax, but granted when I got she made it beautiful with beautiful charm she was beautiful. Like you always find with us planner people, we are generous.

12. What's your favourite Filofax tip or hack?

Washi tape and post it notes cover mistakes well, and don't be afraid if it is not working keep adjusting to find yourself. Don't give up. I took a while for a planner before I found my soft spot if home. So just go with the flow. Buy sell and swap if need to. But most of all be generous and you will see generosity, come back.

13. Turning to Philofaxy, what do you like the most?

That Philofaxy is happy to accept us, even if we love Van der Spek, still made feel welcomed and the people. You love planners your home, free printables are gold in my opinion

14. And what do you not like about Philofaxy?

Can't say I seen any, but would love to see a diary page with a full late communication section as most mine is used is for telephone calls from electrical business.

15. What was the last music track you downloaded or bought?

Never, I married a disco jockey, so steal from him

16. Have you ever attended a Philofaxy meet-up? if not do you intend to one day?

No, but if one ever met in Australia in Queensland I might serious think of it

17. What was the last movie you watched?

Police Academy 3

18. What was the last book you read?

Heartlands, by Catherine Hein

19. George Clooney or Brad Pitt?

Brad Pitt all the way

Thank you Toni for appearing on Reader Under The Spotlight. We always need people to appear in this feature, so please don't be afraid to step forward. Please contact philofaxy at gmail dot com

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27 June 2014

For the past couple of weeks, I noticed that I use my organizers less. All the basics are still working fine—my receipts go into the same pocket, appointments get recorded and remembered—but I've stopped doing anything more detailed than that. I haven't been writing in my journal as often. I've stopped even moving the Today marker forward.

My life hasn't stopped moving forward...I haven't missed any meetings or deadlines, so what do these symptoms mean?

Is my planner system not working?

Am I avoiding some deeper issue in my life?

Do you ever notice "symptoms" like this? What do you do when you encounter them? Do you ever find that taking a look at what's going on with your Filofax helps you learn something about what's going on with your life?

26 June 2014

I'm sure it's not just me, but I seemed to have a choice of lovely binders which just weren't right and I was getting fed up with it all. All I wanted to do was just settle down with something that ticks all the boxes, and get on with using and enjoying it.

As per my previous post, the final part of my A5 journey initially involved these three beautiful filos:

the glamorous red Amazona - it took me a while to work out why this wasn't quite right, but I just find the leather too hard and bumpy when compared with an Ascot. Sounds like a silly reason when written down like that, but it obviously bugged me enough to be a problem

the vintage red Mulberry planner - such a gorgeous binder, but it lacks a notepad pocket, has smaller rings and I find it's a bit too floppy for writing on my lap. I realised that I do most of my writing in an A5 either sat on the sofa or on our bed, so a more structured model would be better for me

the ochre A5 Malden (returned as faulty) - after some more thought, I found that not wanting a replacement puzzled me. In theory, how can you go wrong with an ochre A5 Malden?? (unless you're not a fan of the Malden anyway) I was dissatisfied with my post, no more A5 Maldens for me, and it didn't really come up with any answers for me. Like the Mulberry, I find the larger Malden model a bit too floppy for writing on my lap, but surely I could overlook this con for all the other pros... However, as my little collection only consists of two binders, I think I realised that it would be nice to have something different, rather than two Maldens.

Uh oh, now what?

Reading back through some of my older A5 Philofaxy posts, I realised that the bronze A5 Domino snake would tick all the boxes, so I offered the Amazona up for a trade, but ended up just selling it instead to a lovely lady in the US. I never browse in the Facebook selling groups as I don't want to be tempted into increasing my collection, but as I scrolled down to find and edit my post, my eyes were drawn by the words 'red... A5... Ascot'! I still have a very big soft spot for the Ascot model, so it occurred to me that this could be just what I was looking for. As soon as I heard that it was still available, I was saying, "Yes, please" and the lovely Rebecca helped it be an easy and pleasant purchase.

It's a lovely burgundy red, which I'm finding hard to photograph but I think this is probably the closest to its colour in the flesh.

By changing the angle, I can better show the slight glossiness of the leather.

I love the contrast between the patterned exterior and the brighter plainer interior.

On the left hand side, there is a non-elasticated pen loop, five card slots, a small slip pocket below with 'Filofax A5/FSO Ascot made in USA' on it, a full length secretarial pocket and a full length zipped (non-gusseted) pocket behind. Looking around online, it seems that the small slip pocket was designed to hold a floppy disk.

On the right hand side, there's a notepad pocket and another non-elasticated pen loop. It lies flat and is quite supple, but I think it must have some stiffener inside which makes it good to lean on whilst writing.

The condition was accurately described as 'well loved', and I just think that it adds more character to an already beautiful binder. I love how you can make out these impressions on the right hand side from where a previous owner has leant on it whilst writing. On further inspection, I think that I can make out the date 3rd September and possibly the name Gina Walis.

I don't know much about the Ascot model and when I asked Filofax UK, they said that they didn't have much information available and the person thought that they'd been manufactured in China. However, I did find some more details here.

The Ascot and the Malden are my two favourite models, so I feel very fortunate to have found them in the perfect size and colour combination for me.

25 June 2014

Thank you to Susan for her account and photos of last Saturday's New York City Meet Up.

On Saturday, June 21, we had our 6th New York City Meet Up (you can read about past meet-ups here). Though this was the smallest group we’ve had yet, it was delightful getting together and seeing familiar faces. Raquel, Josh, Juan, and myself were all repeat attenders.

Raquel and I met at Sam Flax on Third Avenue. We stepped inside the store for some Filofax shopping. The selection was pretty decent, considering the recent lack of stock on the website and at other stores throughout the country.

I was afraid that there wouldn’t be too much to peruse. Although there wasn’t much in the way of new items, we did get to see some of the new Original binders, which I liked (which is good considering I may have just ordered a personal nude Original, thanks to a birthday gift certificate).

I did buy a few items:

Here we have 2 sets of personal blank tabs, one personal size business card holder, a typewriter sticky note pad (I usually stay away from anything that is not Post-it anymore, but I couldn’t help myself—this is Graphique brand), and a “Bedside Jots” pad (these pages are not sticky) by Knock Knock.

Because of the time slots, I will probably use these as additional space for anything that I can’t fit onto my Filofax daily pages, especially on the weekend days since Saturday and Sunday share a page. And since they’re not sticky, I can punch down the left side and just slip them right into my binder.

We talked about all things planners—Filofax, Van Der Spek, Gillio, planning in general, the use and non-use of washi tape, what information we keep in our planners—as well as non-planner talk, such as libraries and seersucker outfits.

Among whatever talk that came up, I did manage to get a few photos of our very small collection:

And, as small as it was, we did get a snapshot of the famous stack:

Even with it being the smallest group we had thus far, we had a lovely lunch and even lovelier conversation. Thanks to Raquel, Josh, and Juan for attending the meet up, and thanks to Steve for posting the original announcement and this write-up.